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First Full Observable-Universe Simulation

Posted by timothy on from the not-counting-the-big-blue-room dept.

First time accepted submitter slashmatteo writes "The goal of the DEUS project (Dark Energy Universe Simulation) is to investigate the imprints of dark energy on cosmic structure formation through high-performance numerical simulations. In order to do so, the project has conducted a simulation of the structuring of the entire observable universe, from the Big Bang to the present day. Thanks to the Curie super-computer, the simulation has made it possible to follow the evolution of 550 billion particles. Two other complementary runs are scheduled by the end of May. More details in the press release."

9 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. FULL universe simulation by Narrowband · · Score: 5, Funny

    When in the simulation does it reach the point where it starts simulating the Curie supercomputer simulating it?

    1. Re:FULL universe simulation by zAPPzAPP · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's right there, in particle 4153341989.

    2. Re:FULL universe simulation by Sperbels · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well I once heard that to have a real simulation of the universe, you would need to have a computer the size of the universe

      Not if we use winzip to compress it.

    3. Re:FULL universe simulation by Nidi62 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Is Jenny represented by particle #8675309?

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  2. I hope it isn't labeled by IndustrialComplex · · Score: 5, Funny

    All we need is a pointer to Earth that says 'You are here.' and it's game over for us all!

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  3. Only 550 billion particles? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    From Wikipedia's page "Galaxy":
    "There are probably more than 170 billion (1.7 × 1011) galaxies in the observable universe."

    550 billion particles to simulate the observable universe means just over three particles per galaxy. I don't know exactly what they're doing but it doesn't sound like much of a simulation..?

    1. Re:Only 550 billion particles? by Fluffeh · · Score: 5, Insightful

      550 billion particles to simulate the observable universe means just over three particles per galaxy. I don't know exactly what they're doing but it doesn't sound like much of a simulation..?

      That really depends on what you are trying to achieve. If you are not interested in the interactions going on inside each galaxy, but rather the interactions between galaxies themselves as well as things like filaments and clusters and or superclusters, this is more than enough particles to use. In fact, if each particle is assumed to be a galaxy, then the surplus may well have been introduced to see failed galaxies or to find where initial seeds may not have turned into fully fledged galaxies. They may also account for a small portion of the vast numbers of dwarf galaxies to see how these interact with larger objects.

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  4. Re:Has someone asked it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Insufficient data for a meaningful answer

  5. Nice Machine by kramulous · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Interesting to note that they didn't bother with too many gpu nodes. Reflects what we see with our users despite the abundance of marketing material from Nvidia.

    5040 'standard' compute nodes: dual E5-2680 processors; 64GB RAM
    360 'bulk' compute nodes: quad EX-X7560; 128GB RAM
    144 GPU nodes: dual M2050

    Another 90 'super' nodes on order: 128core, 512GB RAM

    Cores: 103,680
    GPUs: 288

    Almost token GPU offering. These guys must do real work on it.

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